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'A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness, but still will keep a bower quiet for us, and a sleep full of sweet dreams, and health and quiet breathing' Keats

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About Me

I am lucky enough to work from home indulging my passion for vintage & antique textiles, haberdashery & other paraphernalia that I just can't live without. I am partial to chippy paintwork, faded photographs & reading cards & letters that have long ago lost their owners. I realise that I will never make my fortune doing what I love, but the pleasure I get from hand~making something completely unique is reward enough. Working with treasures in the form of textiles, buttons, beads & trims is a privilege and I strive every day to learn more about their past.

Copyright

Thursday, 26 March 2009

I have been having some creative fun this week making vintage style decorative Easter eggs...

These are wooden eggs that I have painted in shades of the palest duck egg, cream and white, then decorated with my favourite kinds of vintage treasures ~ ribbons, buckles, buttons, beads & trims. They have a little hole in the base of the egg, which allows them to either stand (balance) on their own, can be fixed into other displays or of course placed into egg cups as I have done for the photos! They are all hand~made by me and completely unique one~off little items created especially for my first giveaway (and a few extra for me to keep!)

So ~ for my very first giveaway I wanted to share a taste of vintage Springtime! For the first winner (yes, there will be 2 giveaway winners!) there is one of my signature hand~made lavender filled large heart pillows made from vintage textiles and trims. I featured this one in a previous post here. Then to go with it, there are 3 decorative eggs in colours that complement the heart pillow...

Giveaway No.1

And for the second winner ~ a set of 3 co~ordinating vintage style decorative eggs...

Giveaway No.2

I do hope that you like them! Since this is my first go at a giveaway, just as I was uploading the photographs, I had a bit of a confidence crisis! To enter your name in the giveaway draw simply make a comment on this post before the end of Tuesday 31st March and the first 2 names picked out by my gorgeous girl from an Easter bonnet will win. To have your name entered twice, copy and paste the giveaway invitation at the top of this post onto your own blog, then leave a second comment to let me know!

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

Firstly, thank you Nicky at Hollypops for this lovely award ~ so thoughtful of you!

I'm not used to doing this, but I believe that I have to list 7 things that I love and pass on the award to another 7 lovely bloggers. Hmmm, the first part is easy, the second ~ not so easy! I would of course like to award it to all the blogs that I follow and read, but I know lots of you lovely ladies have this award already. I hope I'm not duplicating, but I'm sure it doesn't really matter ~ it just means that you are doubly 'Kreativ'!

So here goes (loving my family goes without saying so will not put that on the list...)

I love...

...a vase full of fresh flowers ~ I would spend my last bean on cut flowers..roses, violets & sweetpeas are favourites......a snowball ~ the alcoholic variety ~ I am a '70's girl at heart!...Audrey Hepburn & all of her movies...an old children's Ladybird book called 'Gingers Adventures'. I have the copy I had when I was little and now read it to my gorgeous girl....my aga! A bit sad to list something so material, I make no apologies because I do absolutely love it. My husband calls it 'the most expensive radiator he has ever bought!'. It wasn't new, it was a wreck that was lovingly reconditioned and is a cream 2 oven. I'm sure that I will bore you with photos as some point......musical films from the 1950's ~ like 'Singin' In The Rain', 'Carousel', 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' 'High Society' etc. etc......wrapping packages ~ I much prefer the giving...

I finally managed to get to the Country Living Fair this weekend ~ I've never been and felt I wanted to satisfy my curiosity! It was a bit of a mixed bag really ~ some very beautiful, unique high quality products and some that fell a bit below expectations ~ or maybe I just had very high expectations! I did make a few purchases...

A Victorian slop bowl with a pretty floral design from Kitty Fisher ~ I have an assortment of these as they look lovely all mismatched on a table for serving food.

A pretty cushion from Louby Loo. I know I shouldn't be buying cushions and could make them myself, but this one was the perfect colour combination for my gorgeous girl's bedroom. We have finally dismantled her cot ~ she is 3 but absolutely loved her cot, I think she would happily have remained in it for years! So we have changed her bedroom around and has a new day bed which looks so cute but sadly means that lie~in's are now a thing of the past...

Another purchase for gorgeous girl was the cutest pure linen summer dress from Little Linens. The colour is an adorable tea rose pink with flower shaped mother of pearl buttons at the back and they had the sweetest fabric corsage to pin on it!

I had to buy a bottle of Violet scented linen water from The Laundry bought at the 'Selvedge Magazine' stall. I have never seen this fragrance before and for obvious reasons ~ it needed to come home with me!

I have been intrigued by Tamar at Tamielle for a while ~ I think I must have seen an article on her in Country Living in the past. Her printed lavender sachets and handkerchiefs are beautiful and feature exactly the images that I love ~ old perfume labels, handbags etc. Her packaging is delightful. Each item is hand sewn in Bulgaria by women working in their own homes. This handkerchief in its pretty box was purchased for pure inspiration!

Finally I stopped at Caroline Zoob ~ one of the nicest stands by far, I could have bought everything! I would love a selection of her creamware china with delicate painted flowers, but as I was travelling by train this was a no no. I did pick up a couple of rolls of ribbon on wooden spools in my favourite colours, but will be visiting her website again to drool over the china!

I have to say another huge (enormous!) thank you to Sadie at Cotton Rose for such a kind gesture in sending me one of her delectable little cushions. I am a sucker for miniature pillows and this little flag cushion is just gorgeous. In my favourite colours, it has found the perfect, albeit temporary home on a child's painted Lloyd Loom chair I have downstairs. Eventually, when I redecorate our master bedroom it is destined for another special chair! Sadie has a giveaway at the moment on her blog ~ so if you are quick you might be in with a chance of having one of these special pillows...

The new Kate Forman brochure arrived this week ~ if I could wish for my whole house to be instantly redecorated, then I would wish for Kate to organise it! Every picture in the brochure is beautiful, inspirational and aspirational. I promise myself that I am going to redecorate our bedroom and use one of her stunning floral linens. Here are some photos to get your creative juices flowing...

Tuesday, 10 March 2009

My obsession with beaded bags started a long time ago and were one of the very first vintage items that I started to collect and I don't think that I will ever tire of them. I love the detailed designs and the fact that they were lovingly hand~worked. I love to imagine who would have owned them and used them and the occasions and dresses they matched. The faded lipstick stains inside, or a tiny cracked mirror in the pocket only adds to the mystery...

A few lost beads or a faded patch with loose stitching is part of the history of the bag and unless absolutely necessary, I don't repair or try and hide these little imperfections. Most of all, I love the scale of them, petite and lady~like; the complete opposite of what I require in a functional handbag now! My collection changes quite frequently ~ I sell some then buy a few more! They are mostly displayed on a wall at home on pretty decorative hooks, then a few more on bed knobs, drawer pulls etc.

My favourite type of beaded bag to collect are the ones with decorative metal frames...

Nearly all of the bags that I collect are in soft colours of beige, cream, duck egg and white...

With the exception of this one, which has the most wonderful amethyst and pale pink beads and has to be my favourite!

My collection of bags has been a source of inspiration for the items I make ~ this is one of the larger lavender filled pillows I make in the shape of a handbag. It is made from a vintage French rustic white linen and trimmed with the corner of an old embroidered whitework and lace edged handkerchief. The finishing touches are a gorgeous early 20th century paste button and a length of 1920's glass flapper bead fringing in a tarnished silver colour.

I use the original bags I have to copy the shapes and also have some excellent source books of designs to use as well (the pages that you see above are from Dover Books ~ and are copyright free so you can use the images for lots of different purposes). The little bags above are all made with vintage linen and lace handkerchiefs or collars with old trims and filled with lavender. The cream kid leather long gloves are c. 1930.

Illustrated sourcebook from Dover Books (you can also get the images on CD Rom)

A wonderful reference book 'The Handbag' by Caroline Cox.

This large sized handbag shaped hanging pillow is my latest creation ~ a vintage fine cream linen textile bought from Vintage to Victorian, overlaid with the palest pink lace collar. I have trimmed it with old glass beads in pale pink with a faux pearl and real shell bead drop. The ribbon is a vintage French grosgrain. On the back is a 1930's pink pure silk satin. As the fabrics are delicate, I have fully lined it before filling with French lavender.

These old handbag frames are just waiting for me to start a new project ~ the woven cream silk fabric in the background is French c.1900 and is going to be perfect for restoring them. I think they would be lovely as wedding bags when finished.

I rarely buy new handbags now, mostly because the ones I really want are way out of my price range. My little luxuries in life are Cath Kidston 'mummy sized' bags, that are reminiscent of a Mary Poppins bag as you can just get so much in them ~ essential kit with a little one...

My favourite Cath Kidston bag with a little raggedy vintage fabric corsage made by me. The shawl is a 1920's silk georgette.

Friday, 6 March 2009

I was rifling through my precious box of vintage greeting cards and ephemera and my hands fell upon this little gem that was once the lid of a perfume box. I have read the words many times before, but this time interpreted them differently ~ such a gentle sentiment that I thought describes the creative blogging world so perfectly...'Friendship's Garden'.

I definitely feel the need for Spring to arrive; there has been a glimmer of sunshine and I, like so many others it seems, have been moving furniture around to freshen up the house and deciding on new paint colours (white, cream, off white, ivory, with maybe a touch of duck egg blue ~ oh, and a bit more white!) Not much of a departure from what is already on the walls, but I need more light in the rooms ~ it feels like it has been dark for so long...In the winter it is perfect in an old house like ours to have darkness with candles and the fire for a warm glow, but at this time of year I want to banish the log basket, throw open the windows and let the light flood in. I want to look out of those windows and see colour in the garden again ~ am I asking too much too soon?

I crave fresh Spring~like florals and set out in earnest this week to complete a little collection of lovelies that I began to sew before Christmas! Last year I found a small piece of the most gorgeous 1930's floral print and vowed to use every last morceau...

The fabric features delicious little bouquets of flowers in my favourite colour palette of duck egg, pale pink & soft green with touches of white, and it has a washed out sort of 'laundered many times' feel with a slight crinkle that wouldn't budge with an iron, but of course this only adds to its charm...

For this large 'handbag' style lavender filled pillow, I used the floral with an old lace edged handkerchief and trimmed it with a glorious vintage opaline glass jewellery find, which would probably have been part of a necklace. The finishing touch is a drop that I made with 3 faceted glass beads ~ a white aurora, a pale pink and crystal clear. The last bit of heaven is an old French ribbon printed with a teeny floral in the same kind of soft faded colours.

I had this wonderful old painted, moulded glass button in my collection of treasures just waiting for the very moment it would find its rightful place in life again...I love it when you have special things kept, safe in the knowledge that with patience, you will find exactly the perfect fabric and trims for it, and it all comes together like a little family that were meant to be together...

More faded floral linen...I'm so predictable! I am naturally drawn to these soft, often bleached out shades because they are so gentle and easy to live with, they make me feel ~ well, happy! Especially when there is a frost outside like this morning and still need a blanket on the bed...

This little pillow has a feather inner ~ I have this sized pad made especially to my own requirements as I love miniature cushions piled up on beds and chairs and they are practically impossible to find in the shops. It measures just 12" x 6". I made the cover from an old damask cloth, trimmed it with lace and made my own corsage using vintage fabrics. I like the edges to have a frayed raggedy feel, it honestly takes ages to pull away individual threads to get the effect...

The little button in the centre is a Victorian French hand~painted enamel, my absolute favourite kind of button!

I told you there was a glimmer of sunshine ~ hope that this picture doesn't look too washed out, but I actually quite liked the fact that it looked bright and sunny and yes, positively Spring~like! This is one of my favourite old boxes, covered in a faded green fabric and a celluloid portrait panel in the centre ~ I think she looks a little like the Duchess of Devonshire?

Another favourite fabric covered box, a gift that was bought in Bruges. It is a bit fragile, but the bird motif is so adorable and I use it to keep these little lovelies in...

A set of French greeting cards with die cut, embossed scraps and ribbons c.1900. They are so beautiful and the colours fit in perfectly with everything that I love most...

Be still my beating heart...

Isn't this little one enchanting? I wonder if my gorgeous girl would agree to being dressed like this? 'Look what I found in the garden Mummy!'

This paper scrap is an old button card which has been hand~painted to match the buttons that were originally on it. It never ceases to amaze me how much careful attention to detail was given to tiny things ~ buttons used to be such an important design aspect of a garment before zips and velcro came along! I can't find any of the buttons that belonged to this card now, so I must have used them all, but I still love it...

An original watercolour of a strikingly elegant lady painted on a postcard, dated 1904. This is one of those special items that I couldn't ever part with because I think that she is so beautiful and I often wonder who she is...

...I've got at least a hundred of them, but top of the list is the arrival of a new season and with it blue skies, sunshine, flowers and light! My wish for you, is of course the same and to have a lovely weekend in 'Friendship's Garden'...